Reckon (AU)

Reckon (AU)

Reckon Preparation Checklist

It is  ESSENTIAL  that you work through the information detailed on   this page   before uploading your file for conversion. This will ensure that you will have a cleaner conversion to Xero, and highlight if there are any outstanding steps that you will have to complete post-conversion.
  1. If the essential preparation items are not complete you WILL have issues in Xero.
  2. You will notice that some of the items on this list are optional. This is because you may be able to action these items more easily in Xero post-conversion. 
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our support team via email at  support@jetconvert.com.

What Versions of Reckon do you Convert?

The Reckon conversion service is for Australia only.
Please see  here for what we can convert. Some types of transactions may also lead to conversion issues please see more information about these  here.

How to Clean Up my Reckon File

This clean up is part of the  pre-conversion recommendations  for Reckon files. There are three steps to prepare your Reckon file:
  1. Remove the password
    1. From the toolbar select Company> Change Your Password
    2. Check the user is admin and the new password is blank. If you have a password it will ask you for it.

       

  2. Set the closing date: The closing date is the date from which you want transactions, not the date of the last transaction in the file, or the end of the current month. To convert transactions from 1 July 20XX, set the closing date to 30/6 of the same year.  EG - To convert transactional history from Reckon to Xero from 1 July 2017, set the closing date at 30/6/2017. We recommend making a copy of your Reckon file to perform the below so that you have a back up of the original file.
    1. From the toolbar select "Company"
    2. Use the drop-down to select "Set Closing Date"
    3. Click on Set Date/Password. Selected the closing date of your choice ie 30/06/XX. Remember this will 'close' transactions prior to this date.
  3. Clean up the file:
    1. From the toolbar select File
    2. From the drop-down select Utilities
    3. From the expanded options select 'Clean Up Company Data'
    4. Click Yes at the 'Budget data may be removed during cleanup. Do you want to continue anyway?'
    5. Select 'remove transactions as of a specific date' this is the same as the closing date (for example 30/06/20XX). Please note this will remove transactions prior to this period and why we recommend doing this process on a backup copy.
    6. Select Next
    7. Tick all boxes then click next. Select Additional Criteria for removing transactions.
    8. Tick all boxes then click next. Select Unused list items to remove.
    9. Click 'Begin Cleanup'.

Creating a Back-Up of my Reckon Desktop File

To save the backup of your Reckon desktop file, please follow the following steps.

  1. Click on the File menu > Save Copy or Backup
  2. Select Backup Copy and click Next
  3. Select Local Backup and click Next
  4. Browse the location that you wish to save the file to eg. your Desktop

From here, you can load through our website for conversion.


How to Create a Back-Up of my Reckon Hosted File

Before you download the Reckon Accounts Hosted file, follow these steps.

Follow the steps below to create a backup file which is stored in your My Backup (B:) drive and make a copy of that to your local computer as a secondary backup set.
1. Click on the  File menu >  Save Copy or Backup


2. Select Backup copy and then click the  Next button


3. Click on the  Options button to display the Save Backup Copy:Options screen
(Since you are already on the hosted platform, only the Local backup option is enabled.This is 'local' with respect to the hosted platform.)



4. For Reckon Accounts Hosted, the My Backup (B:) drive is the default backup location
For your daily or regular backup procedure, we recommend that you select the “ Complete verification” option and then click the  OK button to return to the Save Backup: Method screen

      *For those times when you are performing a pre-verification backup, we recommend that you select the  No verification (not recommended) option and click the  OK button


6.      Once you are back in the  Save Backup: Method screen, click on the  Finish button to proceed with and finalise the backup process.


7.      Once the backup has completed you will be prompted with a similar message prompt as shown below. Click the OK button


8. We recommend that you also regularly keep a secondary copy of the backup which is kept on you own local computer or external hard drive. You can copy that backup file from your  B:(Backup) drive to your local computer hard drive or external hard drive storage device by following the steps in the article.
DATA RECOVERY: How to download a backup file (*.QBB) from Reckon Accounts Hosted to your local computer


Follow these steps to save your backup to your computer. 

  1. Click on the download icon located on the top right-hand corner of your screen
     or 
  2. Click on the “Look in:” drop-down menu and select “My Backup (B:) “ where your hosted backup sets are stored by default
  3. Select your Backup File or Portable Company file you want to make a local copy of
  4. The Reckon Accounts Hosted download function will automatically download your file to your web browsers default download folder location.
Here is a video regarding taking a backup that may assist.

You have successfully created a backup file and transferred it onto your local machine. Once done click on “Open Downloads folder” to navigate to the backup file.

From here, you can load through our website for conversion.



Reducing the Size of my Reckon File

Reckon files can grow to very large files. There are functions within Reckon to verify the file, to purge data (although some may not be very effective for reducing file size).  This document shows some of the steps in Reckon 2015/16.  Depending on the file, file size reduction may or may not be entirely successful. Should you wish to proceed with the larger file you can do by using our custom conversions.

Make sure you set the date for cleanup BEFORE the date you want the history for. The Standard conversion includes the current financial year + 1. I f you wish to purchase a premium service with additional history,  do not purge this data!  In the purging process, transactions are converted to journals, but not deleted. The file size can remain the same. So it depends on a range of factors.  For upload to Jet Convert for conversion, please ensure the admin password is changed to a blank one.
  1. Other Resources 
    https://community.reckon.com/reckon/topics/clean-up-your-hosted-company-file-backups
    http://www.icb.org.au/out/87308/Reckon%20How%20to%20Use%20the%20Clean%20Up%20Company%20File.pdf

3 or 4 Steps to Cleanup

  1. Rebuild DataFile > Utilities > Rebuild Data (Takes 1 to 15 minutes ). In options, do not do verify at this stage. Save the file as a new file name. Eg CompanyName_Purged.QBB

  2. Verify DataFile > Utilities > Verify Data (Takes 5 to 15 minutes time).

  3. InitiateClean up company dataProcessFile > Utilities > Clean up company data (2 minutes). Make sure you change the date of cleanup to be 30/06/2014.  Preferences >Accounting> Company > Set closing Date >30/06/2104 > OK  (NB: do not set the closing date after the date you want data from.)

Normally: The file can then be uploaded for conversion.

     4.  Optional. For large files, create a portable company file (*.QBM) and restore to reduce the data file size after the clean. Portable files, unlike backup files, do not contain related files such             as  letters, logos, images, & templates...only raw financial data.

File > Save Copy or Backup... > Portable company file (save this to Backups). (1 minute).

The file can be then uploaded for conversion


To check:   File > Open or Restore Company... > Restore a portable file (.QBM) (select the recent portable backup and restore over the top of the existing QBW file - you should have the original upload file AND a  full verify backup available).
Please have a look through the following screenshots for picture instructions on how to reduce the size of your file.
  1. Open your file. Reckon may ask about credit cards and to do things - No / Later
     

  2. Clean up the file by purging transactions prior to 30/6/2014. File > Utilities > Clean up company data 

  3. Remove all transactions prior to 30/06/2014

  4. Uncheck "Remove uncleared (unreconciled) bank and credit card transactions."

  5. Remove the ''done' to do' notes. You may also wish to check the box for the unused accounts.

  6. Select Begin Cleanup

  7. Put the backup into a subfolder. Select OK

  8. At this stage also go through the complete verification.

  9. Click Save.

  10. If you receive this error, some additional account fixing may be required. See the steps below.

  11. Saving as a portable file will get rid of deleted transactions. File > Save As > Portable > file name


  12. To check, you can open that QBM file and it will ask you do save the working copy. File > Open or restore company > Restore a portable file

  13. Reckon then asks where to save the working copy. Save in a directory and call it something to know it is the file restored from the qbm file. This is the file to upload. (or you could just upload the qbm). Be sure to remove any passwords.


Errors - How to Fix Various

Common Errors and How to Handle Them
  1. Clean-up date set too early. See Example 1
  2. Error Templates  - See Example 2
  3. Changing Admin Password. - See Example 3
  4. The accountant’s Copy may need to be cancelled for purging. - See Example 4

  1. Clean-Up Date
    Set the date for clean up to be the end of the financial year that you do not need data for to retain only the relevant data. Open invoices etc will still come through. 
    Clean up date may be set before 30/06/2014. Edit > Preferences > Accounting > Company > Set closing Date
    Ok
  2. Errors in Templates
    In the rebuild, you may get errors in the Templates file. You need to find those errors and then delete the templates.
    Might need to do a re-build of the file which recreates indices and relationships. This is an example of a failure - duplicate elements. 
       
    The log file showed there were 2 invoices called "custom invoices"

    Following this up discovered that there were 2 templates called “custom Invoice” (Will need to track these errors to see what are common ones).

    Deleting 1 solves this problem
  3. Change Password to Blank
    Company, Change Your Password. Please supply the file with a blank password.
  4. Change from Accountants Copy to Business
    Sometimes the file will have had the accountant’s Copy set. You need to go and cancel that process to enable cleanup.
    File > Accountant's Copy > Client > Cancel


    Requires Confirmation

**Please note, we can not guarantee that these steps will work for your file.**

Reckon Accountants Version - How to Downgrade a File

If you have a Reckon Accountant file, we need the file to be saved from a business version of Reckon (Pro / Premier / Enterprise). To do this, please follow these steps:

  1. Open the Reckon File in the Accountant version.
  2. From the file menu, choose toggle to another edition (e.g. Premier General Business).
  3. Save a backup copy of the file.
  4. Whilst still toggled, restore the back-up copy, this is now ready to upload to us.
            
            
   















    • Related Articles

    • WET/WEG Tax Codes

      The only way we can convert transactional data is if  WET/WEG are removed from your source file for any tax amounts which are not 0 or 10%. If you have not used this tax code then there is a good chance you can remove it from the source file ...
    • Quickbooks Entreprise / desktop (US)

      Quickbooks Preparation Checklist NOTE: This conversion service is only for the USA version of Quickbooks into the USA version of Xero. If your company pays tax outside the USA then, unfortunately, you will need to consult another conversion supplier. ...
    • What are the steps involved in doing a conversion?

      1. Prepare the file There is some 'tidy-up' work that we recommend you do in the file prior to conversion: How to prepare the source software IMPORTANT - Our software creates the new Xero organisation as part of the conversion process. Please do not ...
    • How to Backup your file?

       How to create a MYOB File backup Firstly, open your MYOB file. Click on the File menu, and go down to Back Up If prompted please make sure that you Backup Company File only. From here, you will get a new Pop Up box prompting you to select where to ...
    • What File Types Can and Cannot be Converted?

      MYOB Files must be under 800Mb and either .MYO or .MYOX if they are over 800Mb you can use our custom conversions. They must not have Multi-Currency or Multi-locations. Version of MYOB Australia New Zealand Account Right Y Y Account Right Live Y Y ...